Students will use educational materials from NASA's Cosmic Times to create their own mash-up (an image, audio or video created by combining two or more sources of media into a new work). This lesson offers the opportunity to use media mash-up...(View More) technology, to acquire knowledge through differentiated instruction, and for students to present their knowledge, ideas and individual perspectives. The lesson includes links to handouts, procedures, and introductory mash-up videos.(View Less)

This is an annotated, topical list of science fiction novels and stories based on more or less accurate astronomy and physics ideas. Learners can read fictional works that involve asteroids, astronomers, black holes, comets, space travel where...(View More) Einstein's ideas are used correctly, exploding stars, etc.(View Less)

This is a lesson about the electromagnetic spectrum. Learners begin by arranging a set of picture cards; in the discussion afterwards, this activity is related to the electromagnetic spectrum as an arrangement of energy waves. Next, using a...(View More) clothesline to model a logarithmic scale, they add in the electromagnetic spectrum. Finally, learners conduct several simple tests to detect other types of radiation. This activity requires access to a sunny outdoor location and the use of ultraviolet light-sensitive beads.(View Less)

In this lesson, students create a fictional narrative on the beginning of time. They use their scientific knowledge of the Big Bang Theory and go back into time to when it occurred so they can make observations about it. Students can select from...(View More) four options for creating a final product that demonstrates their learning using the RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, and Topic) method. This lesson is from the Cosmic Times teachers guide and is intended to be used in conjunction with the 1955 Cosmic Times poster.(View Less)

In this lesson, students create a timeline of world events from 1905 until 2006. Students locate key dates from the Cosmic Times poster series and determine world events that fit into the three story strands of Cosmic Times, as well as, the...(View More) categories of Science, Culture, and World Events/Politics. The timeline allows students to see how the technology and data that scientists have used over the past 100 years have contributed to the cosmological knowledge and understanding that we have today. Students can also observe the historical significance of scientific discoveries over time, and place them within the context of world events. This activity is from the Cosmic Times teachers guide and uses all six Cosmic Times Posters.(View Less)

This series of curriculum support materials explores how our understanding of the nature of the universe has changed during the past 100 years. Students examine the process of science through the stories of the people and the discoveries that caused...(View More) our understanding to evolve from a static universe to a universe whose expansion is accelerating. The series illustrates the nature of science by tracing the process of discovery from the confirmation of Einstein's theory of gravity, to Hubble's evidence for the expanding universe, to the detection of the microwave background, and finally to the discovery of dark energy. The series includes six posters, each resembling the front page of a newspaper from a particular time in this history with articles describing the discoveries. Each poster is accompanied by an online teacher guide and downloadable, inquiry-based lessons. Downloadable newsletter versions of the poster are available for individual student use, with three editions for different reading levels (Early Edition for grade 7-8, Home Edition for grades 9-10, and Late Edition for grades 11-12). Lesson plans can be found by following the link from Teacher Resources to Curriculum Tools to the Sortable Table of Lessons.(View Less)

This is an activity about the size and scale of the Sun, Earth and Moon. Learners will collectively paint and label a model of the Sun and determine the comparative sizes of these three bodies. Learners can then complete a worksheet to further...(View More) explore the mathematical concepts of less than, greater than, and equal to. This activity will require various materials of specific measurements to ensure accuracy. This is Activity 3 of a larger resource entitled Eye on the Sky.(View Less)

This is a detailed historical lesson about comets, distant icy worlds often visible to observers on Earth. Learners will consider the essential question, "What are comets?" They will practice observation and "noticing" skills as they enact a story...(View More) of comets travelling through the solar system and examine images of comets and the current space missions exploring them. This is lesson 10 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System.(View Less)